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Home , Brigham Young, Don Carlos Smith, Porter Rockwell

the “Destroying Angel” Orrin Porter Rockwell by Lawrence Cummins

Listening to the Prophet tell the story of the angel and the hidden plates, young Porter Rock- well’s adventurous nature was stirred. The Smiths and Rockwells, frontier neighbors in Manchester, New York, often visited each other. Although Porter was eight years younger than the Prophet, a bond of friendship between the two was quickly formed. Later, when Joseph needed money to publish The Book of , Porter picked berries by moonlight—after his chores were done—and sold them. When there were no berries to pick, he gathered wood and hauled it to town to sell. The money he earned was given to the Prophet. The two families remained loyal to each other, and when the Smiths moved to Fayette, New York, the Rock- wells followed. Sixteen-year-old Porter was probably the youngest member of the first group to be baptized into the Church, after it was organized in 1830. When the Fayette Branch of the Church moved to Kirtland, Ohio, Porter went with them. However, his stay there was short. Porter was sent with the first group of to Jackson County, Missouri, the intended When the former Governor of Missouri, Lilburn central gathering place for members of the Church. The Boggs, was shot, Porter Rockwell was charged with the elders often met at Porter’s home to discuss ways of pro- crime. Without any evidence of his guilt, Porter was tak- tecting the Saints from the lawless Missouri mobs who en prisoner and kept in an unheated dungeon without were persecuting them. any bedding for over nine months. He was given food While he was in Missouri, Porter became a crack that even the dogs refused to eat. Without his natural marksman with a gun. And he made several trips to stamina, Porter never would have survived the ordeal. to take food and comfort to Joseph Smith One day a Sheriff Reynolds came to the jail and of- and his counselors when they had been illegally jailed. fered Porter a large sum of money if Porter would take Porter volunteered to remain in Missouri until all him to Joseph Smith so that the Prophet could be cap- the Saints had made their way to . Because of his tured. “I will see you damned first,” responded Porter. fearlessness, a number of unfounded charges were made After Porter’s release from jail, he walked most of against him, and he became a hunted man. In defense of the way to Nauvoo, Illinois. He arrived at Joseph Smith’s his faithful and valiant friend, the Prophet Joseph said, house on Christmas Day in 1843, as the Prophet and his “Orrin Porter Rockwell, who is now a fellow-wanderer friends were having a supper party. “During the festiv- with myself [is] an exile from his home, because of the ities,” Joseph recounted later, “a man with his hair long murderous deeds, and infernal, fiendish dispositions and falling over his shoulders, and apparently drunk, … and unrelenting hand of the Missourians. He is an came in and acted like a Missourian. I requested the innocent and a noble boy. May God Almighty deliver captain of the police to put him out of doors. A scuffle him from the hands of his pursuers. … Let the blessings ensued, and … to my great surprise and joy untold, I of salvation and honor be his portion.” (History of the discovered it was my long-tried, warm, but cruelly per- Church, 5:125.)

1 Porter Rockwell the “Destroying Angel” secuted friend, Orrin Porter Rockwell.” (History of the In 1849 Porter Rockwell was appointed deputy mar- Church, 6:134–135.) shall of Great , and he was a peace officer in It is believed by those who knew Porter Rockwell until his death. When pursuing lawbreakers, Por- best that it was on this occasion that the Prophet Jo- ter was relentless, and his endurance was legendary. He seph promised Porter that if he remained faithful to would follow a trail at a gallop in his buckboard where the Church and didn’t cut his hair, he would never others would walk their horses, searching for clues. suffer death from a bullet. Detractors make From then on, Porter wore much of the fact that Rock- his long hair braided and well could neither read nor tucked into a bob at the write. Yet he was remark- back of his neck. ably successful in a num- The sight of Jo- ber of business enterprises. seph and Porter riding to- It should be remembered, gether out to the Prophet’s too, that illiteracy was not farm was not uncommon. uncommon in the nine- And when Joseph went to teenth century. Washington, D.C., to see Porter remained if government authorities loyal to his family and could help right the wrongs friends, and he was gener- suffered by the Saints at ous to others who needed the hands of the Missou- his help. A touching act of ri mobs, Porter went with Porter’s charity, recorded him. in a letter, was the gift of It may have been sup- his shorn hair to the widow posed that Porter was only of , the a bodyguard to the Prophet brother of Joseph Smith. Joseph. However, frequent The woman had lost her mention was made of his hair when she had typhoid attendance at council meet- fever, and Porter’s hair was ings with Joseph Smith and used to make her a wig. other Church leaders. And When Porter’s hair regrew, when Joseph decided to leave Nauvoo and go west to he wore it in a bob again. help lessen the persecution of the Saints, Porter and only Porter traveled thousands of miles on horseback in two others went with him. Afterward, when the Prophet service to the Church as a scout, guide, and expert in learned that his departure was thought by many to be solving problems with Indians. When he died during an act of cowardice, he said, “‘If my life is of no value to the summer of 1878, he had been a member of the my friends it is of none to myself.’” Turning to Porter, he Church longer than anyone else then living. At his fu- asked, “‘What shall I do?’ Rockwell replied, ‘You are the neral service, Elder Joseph F. Smith of the Council of oldest and ought to know best; and as you make your the Twelve said, “He had his little faults, but Porter’s life bed, I will lie with you.’” (History of the Church, 6:549.) on earth, taken altogether, was one worthy of example, After Joseph and Hyrum were killed in Carthage and reflected honor upon the Church. Through all his Jail, Porter went west with the first party of pioneers. trials he had never once forgotten his obligations to his He believed that the Prophet Joseph would have wanted brethren and his God.” him to do that. His services as a scout and game hunter were invaluable.

2 Porter Rockwell the “Destroying Angel”

1. He was known as the “Destroying Angel” Porter Rockwell killed more outlaws than Wy- att Earp, Doc Holladay, , and Bat Master- son combined, earning him the menacing title, the “Destroying Angel.” Rockwell’s hawk-like vision was so acute he could spot landmarks along the trail days before his fellow pioneers. His accuracy was so dead- ly he once shot a bank robber attempting to escape on horseback in the pitch-black of night. It didn’t take long for Rockwell’s legendary abilities to draw the attention, and sometimes even the competition, of outlaws all throughout the Wild West.

2. He assisted in Joseph Smith’s attempted jail break from Liberty Jail Porter Rockwell and Joseph Smith grew up on neighboring farms in Palmyra, New York. Despite their eight years difference in age, both men had a noticeable limp that cemented their close friendship—Joseph’s re- sulted from a childhood surgery and Rockwell’s result- Authority Who Went to Prison ed from an improperly set bone that left one leg two on the Prophet’s Orders: inches shorter than the other. 7 Unbelievable Facts When Joseph became imprisoned at Liberty Jail, About Porter Rockwell Rockwell served as his personal messenger and smug- gler, sneaking two augers into the jail that the proph- by Danielle B. Wagner et used to chisel a hole through the four-foot wall. When Joseph Smith was finally released from Liberty A notorious gunslinger, wanted man, and devout Jail, he had progressed so far in his digging that only Church member, Orrin Porter Rockwell led a life of a few inches stood between the inmates and freedom. paradox. His lethal accuracy with a shotgun and pol- Rockwell remained close to Joseph until the end of the icy to “always shoot first . . . that way they know you’re Prophet’s life, saying when he learned of Joseph’s death, armed” made his time as a lawman controversial at “They killed the only friend I ever had.” best. Charged with murder or attempted murder on three occasions, Porter was acquitted twice and died before the last charge could come to courts. Despite his 3. He never cut his hair or rough-and-tumble attitude, Porter Rockwell remained After a nine-month stint in Missouri awaiting tri- unshakably faithful to the Church and its leaders un- al for the attempted assassination of Governor Lilburn til his death in June 1878, serving as a body guard to Boggs (the same Governor Boggs who signed the Mor- Joseph Smith and . The incongruities mon extermination order), Porter Rockwell showed and myths surrounding Rockwell’s life have drawn the up at Joseph Smith’s house in Nauvoo on Christmas fascination of and non-Mormons alike. But night, shaggy and skeletal. Joseph Smith ordered the here are a few curious tidbits you might not have known gruff-looking ruffian out only to find it was his child- about Orrin Porter Rockwell. hood friend, Porter Rockwell. After hearing Rockwell’s story, Joseph Smith made a Samson-like : as long as Rockwell did not cut his hair and remained

3 Porter Rockwell the “Destroying Angel”

faithful to the Gospel, his enemies could never touch The Aiken brothers arrived in Utah on friendly terms him. Rockwell lived by the prophet’s promise, cutting with the army and with the intent to set up a gambling his hair only once to make a wig for Joseph’s widowed house and brothel for the soldiers. Afraid the Aiken sister-in-law recovering from typhoid fever. And until brothers knew too much about Mormon preparations his dying day, the prophecy held true for Rockwell who against the army, Brigham Young charged Rockwell escaped dozens of showdowns with notable marksmen to escort four of the brothers back to California. Two without a scratch. On one such occasion, sharp-shooter of the brothers reappeared in Nephi days later, blood- Loren Dibble unloaded both his guns at Rockwell on smeared and tattered. Apparently, their two brothers Lehi Main Street in broad daylight without even ruffling had been killed somewhere in the desert between Ne- Rockwell’s composure. vada and Utah. The two remaining brothers were later (Rockwell always professed his innocence in the killed as they attempted to return to Salt Lake. Some Governor Boggs’ assassination attempt, using as his ev- blamed the deaths on Indians, others condemned Por- idence, “I’ve never shot at anybody. If I shoot, they get ter Rockwell, but the truth is, the murder of the Aiken shot. He’s still alive, isn’t he?”) brothers remains a mystery to this day.

4. He went to jail on the prophet’s orders 6. He shot Brigham Young’s nephew Though a trail blazer for the pioneer’s moving west, After stealing a horse from outside the bishop’s Rockwell returned to Nauvoo on an unusual for house, Lot Huntington—nephew to Brigham Young— Brigham Young: to shift persecution from the poverty fled to Camp Floyd where he met up with two other stricken Saints left behind to himself. Rockwell was to petty outlaws. An expert tracker, Rockwell followed the accomplish this feat by getting arrested for the murder trail all the way to a station in Tooele, ar- of Frank Worrell, a man Rockwell shot in self-defense riving in the middle of the night. At sunup, the situa- while serving as a deputy. tion quickly escalated into a standoff. The outcome: Lot Despite his previous harrowing imprisonment and Huntington tried taking on Porter Rockwell and ended acquittal, Rockwell obeyed the prophet’s wishes to their up shot clean through the heart. fullest. In a stunt crazy enough to capture everyone’s attention, Rockwell barricaded himself in an old board- 7. He was a faithful Mormon to the end of his inghouse after chasing an old enemy through Nauvoo’s life streets while firing his pistols above the man’s head. The Despite his no-nonsense demeanor and shady past, plan worked: the Saints remained peacefully in Nauvoo Porter Rockwell was a faithful member of the Church until the spring and Rockwell was acquitted. until the day he died. He was one of the first members of the Church, baptized in the June of 1830 just a few 5. He was involved in the mysterious Aiken months after the Church was organized. brother murders Later in his life, he was ordained as a member of While Rockwell insisted he “never killed anyone the Seventy and held the position throughout his life. who didn’t need killing,” several murky incidences Amidst the slander and accusations stirred up by his clouded his reputation as a deputy and later as a sheriff sudden death on June 9, 1878, President Joseph F. Smith in Utah. Among these cases was the mysterious murder praised Porter Rockwell in his eulogy, saying, “They say of the Aiken brothers. Charged by Brigham Young with he was a murderer; if he was he was the friend of Joseph the duty to slow down Johnson’s army using any non- Smith and Brigham Young, and he was faithful to them, violent means necessary, Rockwell spent a number of and to his covenants, and he has gone to Heaven . . . nights on the plains knocking out wheel pins and scat- clothed with immortality and eternal life, and crowned tering horses. But as the encroaching army neared its with all glory which belongs to a departed saint.” target, tensions rose to a furious pitch.

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